Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Rubin Declares Bachmann Competent

Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post’s conservative columnist, has an “exclusive” interview with Michele Bachmann. How is an interview “exclusive” if the person is giving interviews to lots of other people too? I suppose she hasn’t done this exact interview before, but that would make every interview an exclusive and that kind of defeats the purpose of having exclusive interviews, doesn’t it?
Anyway, after speaking with Bachmann, Rubin declares her to be “serious and focused and lots of other good things:

Again and again, she emphasized the seriousness of the challenges facing the country. “One thing we see more and more is that voters are starting to realize dealing with national security is the number one job of the president. This is not about entertainment. This is not a game show.” And in fact, considering the policy gaffes and shortcomings of her opponents, she comes across, in contrast to the pre-race conventional wisdom, as one of the candidates at the grown-ups’ table: knowledgable, articulate, focused and sober-minded.

Has Rubin been watching the same campaign the rest of us have? Because in the real world Bachmann has come across as exactly what she is, a deeply ignorant and ill-educated person who makes outlandish claims and seems to have a near-allergic reaction to reality. Her typical statements range from false to batshit insane.

Comments

Again and again, she emphasized the seriousness of the challenges facing the country.

Mentioning that we have problems does not make a candidate serious and focused. A five-year-old can repeat “we have real problems” over and over again.

Having a solution, being able to describe the real impact it will have on us, and being willing to talk about the pros and cons of all proposed solutions (including te cons of your own) – that’s what helps make a candidate serious.

Someone standing on the street screaming as a meteor hurtles down from space obviously recognizes that there’s a problem.

Wait, bad metaphor.

A person standing on the street screaming as a steam roller comes at them at one mile per hour can recognize there’s a problem even if they don’t know what to do about it. What’s worse is that Bachmann’s solution is “Keep standing here and it’ll go away!”

The media has long regarded elections as mere horse races. It’s all about who is up and who is down. That’s much easier and more fun than trying to analyze the merits of each candidate’s policy positions. That sounds too much like work for them.

Huntsman is not going to be the nominee. He has the same magic underwear problem Romney has plus the added stigma of having worked for the Evilkenyansocialistatheistmuslim ™.

I suspect ‘exclusive interview’ is just media-speak for ‘not one of those press conferences where every man and his dog points their microphone at someone, and they take turns to ask questions but all go away with the same set of questions and answers’.

Again and again, she emphasized the seriousness of the challenges facing the country. “One thing we see more and more is that voters are starting to realize dealing with national security is the number one job of the president. This is not about entertainment. This is not a game show.”

I think Michele’s been huffing the Aqua Net again. Anyone ever notice that she has Anita Bryant hair–and the same dumb, hateful brain?

I swear it’s the truth: I read the title as “incompetent” and waited for another of Ed’s “conservatives worthy of a grain of respect” (something I no longer have for any American “conservative” I’ve come across in over ten years now.) articles.

MB is as bad as any person could be, as are ALL the “Republican” “candidates” (the “” really get worked over in dealing with the shits running for nomination for puppet-dictatorship of the 1% ‘Mer’kin Peopl’s Republic), with as many variations on “bad” as Howard Johnson’s had flavors of ice cream.